What a way to start the new year off! I’ve always been rather fond of witches and back in the day devoured Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches series (long before the current reboot on screen). This is not a tale of dark witches but the story of three strong and resourceful women in England over a period of 500 years.

In 2019 Kate discovers that she is pregnant and flees from her controlling and abusive boyfriend in London. Her great aunt had left her a small cottage in Cumbria in her will and Kate begins the trek up to Weyward Cottage before he can follow her. She leaves behind everything that could be used to trace her and begins a journey to discover who this aunt was who left her all of her worldly belongings.

In wartime Britain, 1942, Violet is more interested in climbing trees and making friends with the insects, birds and animals than she is in becoming a young lady. Sometimes she thinks that her father really doesn’t like her very much and her only occasional friend is her brother. He is often away at school so she is largely left to her own devices. A visit from a distant relation changes Violet’s life forever and a shocking chain of events unfolds.

It is 1619 and Altha is on trial for witchcraft. She had followed her mother’s instructions about staying under the radar as much as she could but sometimes people are just out to get you. She is accused of killing a local man, the husband of her childhood friend. Her way with medicines and her relationships with all kinds of animals seem to be the final nails in her coffin. The priest and the doctor have testified. Will she face the ultimate sentence?

These three stories are interwoven together in Weyward creating a multi generational tale of how society deals with unusual independent women. It is a haunting tale of how a community continues to deal with things that cannot readily be understood. The women here are all struggling to be useful members of their own locality and are largely misunderstood with an affinity towards green, natural magic rather than the dark arts. It is an exhilarating read and one of the best debut novels that I’ve read for a long time. A story that stays with you long after you have turned the final page.

Supplied by Net Galley and The Borough Press in exchange for an honest review.

Three generations of women; each finding their circumstances more than challenging. Each has suffered at the hands of a man and each, through no fault of their own has been banished. It is Kate, in 2019, who will find out more about her ancestors and through what she learns, will finally find the means to deal with her situation.

Altha was tried as a witch in 1619 after a herd of cows trampled a neighbouring farmer. Violet was born into a strict household during the Second World War. Her mother dead, she found her father to be harsh and unrelenting and when her cousin Fredrick comes home from battle she ends up being

In 2019, Kate knows nothing of her female heritage, but she does know that her great aunt Violet has left her a cottage in Crows Beck, a village in Cumbria. She so badly needs to flee her home and so, keeping the existence of her inheritance a secret from her partner, she flees there. It is while she is making a home in Weyward cottage that she unearths some of the history of her great aunt Violet and discovers what binds these three women together.

Emilia Hart’s Weyward is a delightful read and the cottage that links each of these women provides a strong and enduring bond between the ages. Though born into very different circumstances, each woman finds herself in Weyward Cottage needing help and finding it through their connection to the land and the nature that surrounds them.

Weyward is a story of the resilience of women in the face of astonishing misogyny and is also an engrossing and well told story which holds the interest and keeps the reader wanting to know more. Told in different ways, through letters and diaries, first and third person narratives, the story is always clear about whose voice we are hearing from and that makes it a distinctively told story.

Weyward offers an alternative history to that told by the male victors. This is history as told by Gaia; a history of how women’s powerful connection to nature is the wheel that turns the earth and makes things flourish.

Verdict: Verdict: Emilia Hart’s Weyward tells a compelling story of the resilience and the power of women and of how, in the face of adversity, they find an inner strength and connection that is palpable; enough to overcome an adversity that we see all too clearly has not changed over centuries. It weaves its own spell on the reader and though elements of it are familiar and there’s not really any doubt as to whether Kate will prevail, this is still a satisfying and evocative read.

I’d forgotten I’d been given this from the publishers through Netgalley until I got a subtle reminder to review so I hunkered down over the weekend to finish it. Usually, given time restraints, it’d take all the enjoyment out of a book but Weyward isn’t just any book, I soon realised!
A multi time lined narrative based around three incredible women. Each life a testament to its day in history and beautifully sculpted to ensure the most powerfully evocative sense of place and connection.
Quite the emotional ride with the Weyward women but one I’d heartily recommend any reader to take. To realise this is a debut novel is as empowering as the read itself and I’m sure Ms Hart is destined for her rightful place on the nations’ bookshelves.

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

This mesmerising debut follows the lives of three women in three different periods of time. It takes you through their struggles as women and the powers they have within them.

1619 - Altha is to stand trial for the murder of a man with the addition of being accused of witchcraft.

1942 - Violet is a young girl who is struggling to be who her father wants her to be and wants to learn more about her mother.

2019 – Kate is in an abusive relationship and plans her escape to start her new life.

Where will these three women’s lives lead? What powers will they find within themselves?

This book is amazing and had me drawn in right from the start, with the strength these women have in the difficult times they are going through.

I loved the three timelines, and as the storyline develops it helps you understand more about the background of the women and the Witchcraft element in their lives.

I can’t believe this is a debut, and I know my review doesn’t go into too much detail, but I don’t want to give anything away. I will certainly be looking out for new books by this author in the future.

Overall, a mesmerising debut where three women in different times show there strength and determination.

Whatever I thought Weyward would be before I read it: I got so much more than I expected.

This is a tale of wildness, of women, and of the systems that would tame them. It is the telling of nature - both that within and outside of us - and how we may choose to embrace it, or hide from it. This is a story of power, and truth, and of healing.

What attracted me to Weyward was the storylines of three women, at three different times in history. I love books that follow a family through generations, and I have no problem with flashbacks and non-sequential timelines.

Altha, Violet, and Kate are different enough that I did not find myself confusing them and their storylines. I thought their similarities were well-placed, considering their relation within the story and to one another. Just enough similarities to tie them to one another, but not enough to melt them into one.

The only book I’ve read that has a similar “feel” is Skin - although set on the opposite end of Britain, and a distinctly different era, a magical undercurrent pulses through both these books. And yet, this is not a work of fantasy, but rather, of magical realism. It is not so much an imagining of might-have-beens, and more a reminder of the forces that shape, and have shaped, our lived world. But even that does not capture how deftly the surreal is woven into the fabric of Weyward, and how realness, and rawness, are never sacrificed.

Emilia Hart is a skilled author who has no trouble reminding the reader of their own inner wild thing - however buried it might be. We may not all hear the soft clicks of a spider’s legs, and we may not all wield power through the gifts of nature (or even wish to do so), but we can all recognise the spark of power when it is lit - and Weyward will light it.

Ten out of ten for Weyward - this is a book I will gladly read again.

(Content warning: abuse, sexual assault, pregnancy loss/termination)

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for providing an eARC, in exchange for an honest review.

The three interweaving stories in this novel tell a story of witchcraft, family history, pain and empowerment. They privilege relationships between women, especially mothers and daughters, but also women’s relationship with nature. The sexism each generation faces seems specific to their time, but is part of a much longer history of misogyny that fears and tries to control and silence independent women. The stories were slightly slow and predictable in parts, but still enchanting and enrapturing.

A mix of historical fiction & witchy read Weyward interweaves the stories of Altha, Violet & Kate across time. All subject to the will of men, manipulated & downtrodden each is fighting her own battle to get back to herself. Mirrored across the timelines, we follow them as they learn what it is to be a Weyward woman.

The way the women's individual stories worked alone, but intertwined made for a good read, but I'd have welcomed a little more emotion. The way the book ended was very neat & I wonder if I'd have felt more involved had their stories had a less satisfying ending (or maybe I'm just a horrible person).

A similar feel to Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic series but with a little less magic & a little more realism.

I thoroughly enjoyed the distinct yet connected strong female narratives as told by Altha, Violet and Kate - otherwise known as the Weyward women.

This novel is for those readers that enjoy Stacey Halls ('The Familiars). Women have been accused of witchcraft for centuries and here we see how, perhaps, the connection with nature, is something to be celebrated.

So why not five stars? Some paragraphs were quite short, when I would have liked to see a more detailed description of setting, for example.

The narratives were all three interesting but it was Violet's story that really captured all my sympathies. This novel would make for an excellent book club choice.

I will happily read anything Emilia Hart publishes.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Weyward.

Weyward is the story of three women, across hundreds of years, who all share the power to heal or harm, and an affinity with nature that others can't understand. Weyward women will not be cowed or suppressed for long.

2019
Kate escapes from her abusive husband, pregnant with his child, to Cumbria and Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt.

1942
Violet loves climbing trees, reading and collecting insects. When she meets her handsome long lost cousin her life changes forever as she is expected to be a proper lady, but is he a proper gentleman?

1619
Altha is on trial for witchcraft, despite having saved numerous lives previously, locals are now wary of her powers and this is her time of reckoning.

The time hopping in this story was easy to follow and flowed quite naturally, as we learn how intertwined these women's lives are - and the ending was very clever, wrapping it all up neatly.

Wow, what a powerful book. I loved each of the three characters and loved how each chapter moved between their povs and timelines. These women were strong, amazing and resilient in their own ways. It demonstrated the persecution of women throughout the ages by men and the horror they faced by being just a little different or strong willed! There were so many omg moments and the ending let me so emotional! Highly recommend!

Weyward is a combination of historical fiction and magical realism with a strong focus on women, family, and what it means to come from a matriarchal lineage. It tells the story of three women, all dealing with their own struggles, fears and situations. Kate, escaping from an abusive relationship on discovering that she is pregnant. Violet, longing to know more of her mother’s history only to become the victim of a terrible crime with consequences she never foresaw. Altha, a young woman accused of witchcraft at a time when to be different is to be dangerous.

There were elements of this book that I enjoyed, the indomitable character of all of these very different women, how they went from victims of circumstance to having their own inner strength. In particular Altha’s story, of what it is to be othered in a society that finds power through alienation. I appreciated that the books wasn’t afraid to take on tough topics such as domestic abuse, rape, violence towards women, abortion and the choices that women have made in the dark for centuries. How the writer wrote toxic masculinity well, through the use of a variety of male characters as well as well as showing up what non-toxic masculinity could look like. There was solid character and story development throughout. I loved the generational interplay though at times found the hopping between time-lines somewhat jarring.

In terms of the downsides of this book for me, I felt that there was perhaps an unwillingness to “kill your darlings” a little bit; I was surprised that all three women had relatively good outcomes and honestly, I didn’t buy them, it left the endings of the stories feeling somewhat weak and perhaps naive for me. (I don’t believe for a second that an upper class English man would accept his daughter’s refusal to marry someone after she had been pregnant outside of wedlock so easily or that her rapist would be generous enough to give her a home…). I did feel that there was an element of shaming in the approach that the book towards some of the darker topics it was tackling, and while I appreciate that that is a necessary part of the narrative I would have liked to have seen a shame free resolution. (For example the “you will never bear another child because you aborted one, struck me as rather shame riddled, I would have appreciated a different approach).

Overall, this book is a two and a half/five stars for me. I enjoyed element of it but certain plot points just didn’t appeal to me. I recommend it but with the acknowledgement that it doesn’t always hit the right note for me (that is not to say it wouldn’t for other readers).

This is a wonderful story about three women from three different centuries, with a magical thread linking them together. The writing is beautiful and the characters are so realistic. I really loved this book and highly recommend it.

For those who don’t know, the weird sisters who appear in Shakespeare’s Macbeth were known in the original folio of the play as the “weyward sisters”. Those who do know this will twig that Emilia Hart’s debut Weyward deals with the subject of witches and witchcraft. Those who do not will be keyed in fairly quickly when the book opens in 1619 with what can only be a witch trial.
Weyward concerns itself with three strands of the same lineage. Altha, writing in 1619, Violet who is sixteen in 1942 and the daughter of a Viscount and Kate in 2017 planning to escape from an abusive relationship. The plot will circle in and around these three characters, bringing their stories slowly together until each impacts on the others. In doing so it will explore the power inherent in the Weyward line but also the way each of the three has had to deal with powerful and controlling men and issues of abuse, both physical and sexual, control and manipulation.
Weyward comes in a tradition of books which seek to reclaim witchcraft from the horror story and tradition of superstition and fear. Other recent books that take this approach include Alix Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches which places its action during the suffragist movement and Madeline Miller’s Greek retelling Circe. Hart is interested in the connection to nature and a tradition of healing and nurturing, although there is more than hint of darkness and violence.
Overall, Weyward is a compelling, page-turning debut with plenty to say about the capacity to make a stand and reclaim power in the face of abuse.

I was pleasantly surprised by this magical realism story.

Getting several points of view from the women in the Weyward family all finding themselves at different points in time with their stories being told alternately to wind up the modern day portion into a very satisfying conclusion.

There are a lot of triggering themes in this including rape and marital abuse which was rather hard to read about but it made the women finding their voices after experiencing their traumas rather more meaningful.

There's some rather beautiful poetic descriptions in this in moments of light of the women enjoying their weywardness.

This was written so well it felt so real reading it and I would read other stories by this author as this is my first experience reading a book from her.

Weyward is an absolute delight to read. This achingly deep and heartfelt story will suck you in and keep you turning pages. Told from multiple POV from three strong and relatable women across generations. With feminist undertones, this is a story of overcoming overwhelming odds, strength, and heart. I found it hard to pick a favorite character as they were all fantastic in their own way. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

I cannot believe this is a debut as the writing and stories were woven and told with such finesse and style. I would say to listen to the hype on this one as it really is a fantastic read.
The 3 interweaving stories across the really different times make for a truly engaging book and one that will move you. I love books when the narrative switches between characters and the changes in time and style for Altha, Violet and Kate’s stories makes it really engrossing. The echo’s and themes throughout the stories gave me “To Paradise” vibes - big positive for me!!

There are some potential triggers in this book so please read the trigger warnings before you read just in case

I kept hearing how good this book was, and so I prepared myself for it to just be hyper. Spoiler: It really is brilliant! Hart has managed to weave the stories together beautifully. The writing is incredibly atmospheric, the descriptions really add to the story and the setting, rather than just being a way for the author to show off how good she is at it. I was hooked from the start when a description of a dead crow made me jump - maybe that was just me?!

Thank you so much NetGalley and the publisher, what a fantastic book.

What a bewitching empowering and moving book, compelling to read and very satisfying to the end. It's the intertwined stories of three different women from the same bloodline - Altha from the 1600s, Violet from the 1940s and present-day Kate, who all suffer at the hands of men but who ultimately find redemption through a sense of place, family and belonging.

The writing is clear and compelling, and the stories pack some punch, from distress and despair through to hope and redemption.

The story of three strong women sat in three very different time periods – 1619, 1942, and 2019. Linked by family and their gift – healer/witch - all face adversity from the men in their times who look to control and are unable to accept these women’s differences and strength. A wonderful new writer who describes the natural world exquisitely. I really enjoyed this novel and felt part of these women stories and battles. I thoroughly recommend and look forward to more from this author. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy of this novel.

#Weyward

This blistering debut by Emilia Hart delves into the history of three Weyward women over three different time periods. Altha in 1619; Violet in 1942 and finally Kate in 2019. The narrative flits between each woman's story with glimpses back to the past and the echos the previous Weyward women leave on the next generation. An utterly spellbinding, captivating story with exceptional characters.
On a seperate note the nature writing that forms the background to these women's lives is outstanding, very similar to Barbara Kingsolver's style of writing. Hart has an evocative style that heightens the senses. I imagine this would be a brilliant audiobook.
Trigger warning - there are some scenes of domestic abuse, coercive control and rape.

I would highly recommend this exciting debut and can't wait to read more from Emilia Hart.
Thank you for letting me read this advance copy #Netgalley and #HarperCollins